IT'S TIME FOR SOME INTELLIGIBLE DESIGN

Bush's ownership society turns out to be the on-your-ownership society.

Bush and the FAR RIGHT FUNDAMENTALIST'S Intelligible Design, finally EXPLAINED. TIME TO HIDE
UNDER YOUR BED

LAST Night I wrote the below paragraphs as my opinion, on a petition sent to
the Florida representatives of my state. Not sure, if these petitions have
a snowball's chance in HELL to stop the ugliness that has befallen
our country since Bush was selected our president in 2000; but, it
really seems this is the only weapon we sane people have to cease the
psychotic laws, this deplorable regime is trying to make rational people
live under. LET THE NIGHTMARE END!

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE... ALL THE PEOPLE:

As a child in public school, learning about the dark ages, I use to think "OH MY GOODNESS, I AM SO GLAD I DIDN'T LIVE BACK THEN"... Now, with this dark age Religious Right Regime...

I find myself here... SMACK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DARK AGES... AND OH MY GOD, IT FEELS TREMENDOUSLY OVERWHELMINGLY, FRIGHTFUL!

________________________________________________________________

Definition of The Dark Age n. 1. An era of repression and
unenlightenment: The war plunged the country into a Dark Age. 2. Dark
Ages. a. The period from about A.D. 476 to about the year 1000. b. The
entire period from the end of classical civilization to the REVIVAL OF
LEARNING in the West; the Middle Ages.

________________________________________________________________

THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING... This has a poignant ring to it!

What is happening today is the desire to take little children’s minds (they have already accomplished this on many adult's minds) and drill DARK AGE rhetoric of converting the parables of the bible into literal reality messages of intolerance and non-questioning of their rule, in order to close their open young minds... It’s BARBARIC! ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE HITLER YOUTH CAMPS. Please use common sense and don't try to use HEAD START to ZOMBIE-IONIZE our young minds. It can't work and it won't work... Sooner or later the little zombies will mature and the outcome will be HATE!
ThinkingBlue Click here to see this page with music

Stop Religious Discrimination in Head Start TAKE ACTION CLICK HERE: Below is an article that makes this CRYSTAL CLEAR!

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AT THE BOTTOM OF TODAY'S BLOG IS AN UPDATE ON THE DC ANTI-WAR RALLY. HURRAY!!! SCROLL DOWN OR (CLICK HERE FOR THE PAGE).

WORD OF THE DAY
Intelligible - Describing written or oral communication that is easily understood: SYNONYMS - clear, understandable, crystal clear, comprehensible, direct, limpid , perspicuous, plain, unambiguous

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

subject to debate by Katha Pollitt

Intelligible Design

[THE NATION from the October 3, 2005 issue]

Sometimes I wonder if the future, in some strange metaphysical way,
reaches down into our psyches and readies us to accept what is to come.
Maybe we know things before we know them. By the time change is plain to
see, we've unconsciously adapted to it and have learned to call it
something else--God's will, human nature, life.

Let's say, for example, that the American Empire is just about over.
Let's say China and India and other countries as well are set to surge
ahead in science and technology, leaving reduced opportunities for upward
mobility for the educated, while capital continues to roam the world in
search of cheap labor, leaving a shattered working class. Let's
say we really are becoming a society of fixed status: the have-nots, an
anxious and defensive middle and what George W. Bush famously calls his
base, the have-mores. What sort of shifts in culture and social structure
would prepare us for this looming state of affairs? A resurgence of
Christian fundamentalism would fill the bill nicely.

Intellectually, scientifically, even artistically,
fundamentalism--biblical literalism--is a road to nowhere,
because it insists on fidelity to revealed truths that are not
true. But religious enthusiasm is not all bad. Like love or
political activism, it can help troubled souls transform their lives. And
if what we're looking at is an America with an ever-larger and boxed-in
working class and tighter competition for high-paying jobs among the
elite, fundamentalism is exactly the thing to manage decline: It
schools the downwardly mobile in making the best of their lot while
teaching them to be grateful for the food pantry and daycare over at the
church. At the same time, taking advantage of existing currents of
anti-intellectualism and school-tax resistance,
it removes from the pool of potential scientists and other creative professionals vast numbers of students, who will have had their minds befuddled with creationism and its smooth-talking cousin, intelligent design.

Already, according to a study by University of Minnesota biology
professor Randy Moore, 40 percent of high school biology teachers
don't teach evolution, either because it's socially unacceptable in their
communities or because they themselves don't believe in it.

If you think of current behavior as an advance accommodation to what
is on the way, some things make sense that otherwise are mysterious.
Why, at the very moment that we are talking obsessively about
academic "excellence" and leaving no child behind, are we turning our
public schools into factories of rote learning and multiple-choice
testing, as if learning how to read and count were some huge
accomplishment?

Well, if your fate is to be a supermarket checker--and that's a "good
job" these days--you won't be needing Roman history or art or calculus. By
the same token, cutting state university budgets, burdening students with
debt and turning college into a kind of middle-management trade school
makes sense, if shrinking opportunities for the professional elite lie
ahead. Why create more competition for the graduates of the Ivy
League?

Another mystery potentially explained: Government's
determination to keep working-class women from controlling their
fertility. Why does it set a biological trap that dooms
them to years of struggle with repercussions for everyone around them,
including their children? (It's true that teen pregnancy rates
are going down, but they're still astronomical by the standards of any
other industrial nation--six times the rate in the Devil's own country,
France.) For all our talk about single-parent families--the reason
for the terrible poverty of black New Orleans, if we are to believe
right-wing columnists Rich Lowry and David Brooks--we act to bring about
more of them, and of the most vulnerable, makeshift kind.

Somehow single motherhood is supposed to be the fault of the left, but
it's the right that has cut public funding for contraception, held up Plan B, restricted abortion, flooded the schools with useless abstinence-only sex ed and now even threatens to bar confidentiality to girls seeking birth control.
If you wanted a fatalistic, disorganized working class, a working class
too worn out by the day-to-day to do much more than get by, saddling girls
with babies is a great idea.

Hurricane Katrina was heartbreaking--and it was shocking too. The
realities it laid bare--the stark class and race divisions
of New Orleans, the callousness and cluelessness and sheer
shameless incompetence of the Bush Administration, the long years of
ecological mismanagement of the Gulf region--show how far the process of
adaptation to decline has already gone.

Bush's ownership society turns out to be the on-your-ownership society. The rising tide that was supposed to lift all boats is actually a flood that only those who already
have a boat can escape.

For decades the right has worked day and night to delegitimize concepts
without which no society can thrive, or maybe even survive

--the common good, social solidarity, knowledge and expertise, public service.

God, abstinence and the market were supposed to solve all our problems.
Bad news--climate change, rising poverty, racial and gender disparities,
educational failure, the mess in Iraq--was just flimflam from liberals who
hate freedom. Is there another world power that lives in such a fantasy
world? Now, in old people left to drown in their nursing home beds, in
police who reportedly demanded that young women stranded on rooftops bare
their breasts in return for rescue, in the contempt for public safety
shown by Bush's transformation of FEMA into a pasture for hapless
cronies--we can all see what those fantasies obscured.
A government that doesn't believe in government was a disaster waiting to
happen.

That disaster was Katrina, and it's swept us a crucial political moment. It's as if we're being given something people rarely get: a chance to take a hard look at
the future we are preparing for ourselves, an America that has used up its
social and economic and intellectual capital and in which it's every man
for himself, and every woman, too.

Is that the future we want?
Because if we let this moment slip away, that is where we are heading

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PLAYING ON THIS PAGE IS DAR WILLIAMS "EMPIRE" DOWNLOAD FREE HERE

Hear it playing CLICK HERE

EMPIRE LYRICS

Who's afraid of the sun
Who would question the goodness of the mighty
We who banish the threat
When your little ones all go nighty nighty
Well there's no time for doubt right now
And less time to explain
So get back on your horses
Kiss my ring and join our next campaign

And the Empire grows
With the news that we're winning
With more fear to conquer
And more gold thread for spinning
Till it's bright as the sun
Shining on everyone

Some would say we've forced our words
And we find that in generously churlish
Words are just words
Don't be so pessimistic, weak and girlish

We Like strong, happy people
Who don't think there's something wrong with pride
Work makes them free
And we spread that freedom far and wide

And the Empire grows the seeds of its glory
For every five tanks
Plant a sentimental story
Till they worship the sun
Even Christ loving ones

And we'll kill the terrorizers
And a million of their races
But when our people torture you
That's a few random cases
Don't question the sun
It doesn't help anyone

But the journalists cried out
When it was too late to stop us
Everyone had awakened
To the dream they could enter our colossus
And now I'm right, yeah, you said I'm right
There's nothing that can harm me
Cause the sun never sets on my dungeons or my army

And the Empire fell on its own splintered axis
And the Emperor wanes as the silver moon waxes
And the farmers will find old coins
In their strawberry fields
While somebody somewhere twists his ring
And someone kneels
Oh, where is the sun shining for everyone?
Where is the sun shining for everyone?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thinking Blue Wrote This On
September 23, 2005

I cannot be there, at the DC Peace Rally, on Sept. 24th, but I am so glad that move-on has created this petition to show words and pictures of those who would like to go but are unable... This allows us to show support for all those who are SICK AND TIRED OF THIS SENSELESS BUSH WAR... Please sign the petition below if you feel the same way. Thanks, Thinking Blue

Here are three of the TrueMajority members who are on the petition. Sign the petition now, and join them:


Thinking Blue from FL:
We must bring back sanity to our country. We need an exit strategy in Iraq... TODAY! Bring our troops home before many more are lost. Each day the numbers of dead and wounded grow. STOP THE ESCALATION OF MISERY AND HEARTACHE. It's time, it's past time to bring rationality and our troops home. Thinking Blue




Erin from Rochester, IL: Please help make our nation strong again by bringing our troops home and putting money back into the programs that need it here in America. Thank you.

John from Macungie, PA: Those of us who were in the first "Wrong War" know its time to get out of the second "Wrong War".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tell Your Friends:
Take the Peace Message to DC

Send Your Face and Your
Words, if Your Body Can't Get There

Hello Everyone,

We're already nearly halfway to our goal of
50,000 signatures on our new "photo petition" to Congress. These
photos and messages from you and your friends will be delivered to
members of Congress on Monday, Sept. 26th as part of three days of
action in Washington, D.C. calling for peace in Iraq. If you haven't yet,

Sign the petition now.
You can upload a photo, too, but it isn't required.

Then, tell your friends! We
need to get as many names as possible. Our goal is 50,000, but it will
only happen if you forward this mail to your friends.

And most importantly, come to DC
if you can. The peace movement is re-invigorated, and this weekend
will prove it. Here's a link to info about Saturday's rally, including
how to find a bus to get there:
www.unitedforpeace.org
Signing the petition is easy. If you aren't
already a TrueMajority member we’ll ask for your address, so we can
figure out who your member of Congress is. Then, you’ll get a chance
to upload a picture of yourself and add any personal comments for your
Congress member. The picture can be any photo of yourself that you
already have on your hard drive, or you can take a new one holding up
a sign. We’ll put the petitions together and deliver them to each
Member of Congress Monday morning.

Remember, adding a photo makes the petition
more powerful, but sign it whether you have a picture or not.

Thanks for supporting the rally,

Matt Holland
Online Organizer

P.S. Even if you are going to Washington you
can still sign the petition. And please pass this email around to
everyone you know.

Click here to upload your photo and sign our petition.

We Need Your Help! Please share this email:
http://action.truemajority.org/TrueMajority/join-forward.html?domain=TrueMajority&r=FdSrroY1Xmdf&

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Big update:

We all did it!

300,000 Surround White House
in Largest Antiwar Protest Since War Began

With the support of everyone in the antiwar movement around the country, the September 24th demonstration was a magnificent success. We had hoped for 100,000 people, and more than 300,000 joined the protest. We received media coverage all around the world. The article below, from the Washington Post, took up the front page of the newspaper above the fold. The ANSWER Coalition initiated this demonstration on May 12, 2005 under the slogans "Stop the War Against Iraq" and "End Colonial Occupation from Iraq, to Palestine, to Haiti and
Everywhere." We also later connected the war in Iraq with Bush's criminal
neglect in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. On May 12, we also proposed
to the United for Peace and Justice that our two coalitions enter into a
united front for the purpose of maximizing the broadest possible turnout
in the streets. We believe that the final agreement to organize a joint
rally and joint march was in the best interests of launching a wider
struggle against the war-makers.

Everyone should feel very proud in the success of this demonstration, and
the large-scale protests that also took place in San Francisco, Los
Angeles, Seattle, and in other cities. More than 350 cities and towns
organized transportation to come to Washington DC. The commitment and
self-sacrifice of local organizers speaks to the fact that this movement
has taken off.

If you could not go to the demonstration or you know a friend or family
member that could not go, but would like to have gone, you can now join
the demonstration from home! We've set up an easy mechanism so you can let
the politicians know that you stand with the more than 300,000 people at
the Sept. 24 March on Washington and are demanding Bring the Troops Home
Now, spend money on human needs - not war and occupation!

We want to send a special "thank you" to the hundreds of A.N.S.W.E.R.
volunteers who helped with stage and sound set up, takedown, fund
collection, march security, and the tireless around-the-clock work that
was necessary to make the demonstration so successful. Many volunteers
have hardly slept for the last 72 hours.

We also want to send a special "thank you" to all of those who have also
made a financial contribution. This movement exists because of the
commitment of those who can make a financial contribution. We have to keep
up the momentum. If you would like to continue to sustain the
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and build on this national success to take the next steps,
please make a generous donation.

CLICK
HERE TO GO BACK TO PAGE

MORE THINKING BLUE LINKS

GOODBYE US DEMOCRACY, HELLO US THEOCRACY

MONDAY MORNING HANGOVER FROM "JUSTICE SUNDAY"

Justice Sunday's Derision of Faith

Perfumed Lies

What War Really Looks Like ... From Bushflash

100 Bush Days (seems more like 100 years)

Mother's Day Proclamation

National Religion

Bush Lies Democracy Dies

AMERICA CAPITALISM

REAL ID or REAL IDIOCY

Deception, Denial, and Demagoguery

War, What War?

I DON'T FLY MY FLAG ANYMORE

Rove and Bush STOP THE COVER-UP

WHITEHOUSE LEAK

A HARSH WAR

REGAINING MY HUMANITY

LEAKS, LEAKERS AND LEAKEES

QUEEN MOTHER BUSH

SMALL GOVERNMENT

BUSH'S ANATHEMA

RELIGIOUS RIGHT'S LAST MARBLE

LET THE GREED GAMES BEGIN

INTELLIGIBLE DESIGN

CAROLYNCONNECTION.COM

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use
it! Thinking Blue blogspot

SMALL GOVERNMENT - BOOM FOR RICH

Grover Norquist, one of the ideological leaders of our current
administration, once said he wanted to shrink the federal government until
it was small enough to be drowned in a bathtub. Well, those who believe in
his view of things have worked very hard to accomplish this, and we see
now what happens when you do that. In this case, the government did not
drown. An American city did. - Wm R Pitt

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The saddest reality in this SMALL GOVERNMENT ideology is SMALL GOVERNMENT FOR THE RICH IS A BOOM... less tax, less regulation, less conscience over helping others; But for the poor of a nation... SMALL GOVERNMENT means, in plain words... FEND FOR YOURSELF... Now to the well-to-do on the right, FEND FOR YOURSELF simply means PULL UP YOUR BOOTSTRAP, ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVES AND GET YOURSELF BACK ON YOUR FEET... They chant this Horatio Alger creed over and over again, not realizing they have the resources to easily accomplish this… if ever they were down on their luck they would just reach for well-off acquaintances, relatives, associates and fall back on their education, experience and insider knowledge.

I wonder how any of these blinded by the right conservatives would fair if
they came from a generational poverty line that dates back to slavery.
They claim they can put themselves in another persons shoes… but I beg to
DIFFER.

Just imagine for a moment, a person of generational poverty trying to get a job with no education, no skills, an image of poverty ( i.e. bad teeth,
inferior language, worn-out, faded clothing). An employer would say SORRY WE ARE NOT HIRING AT THIS TIME and send him on his way. (I have seen this happen). Where is he/she to turn, it should be to the government, a citizen should be able to obtain help from the government, but with SMALL GOVERNMENT… his government isn’t there. Why aren’t we all in this together…? We are only as strong as our weakest link! For the poor there
is nothing and for the rich there is EVERYTHING. Why can’t the conservative, smug snobs see this.

We the people, ALL THE PEOPLE, need our government when times get tough. We pay out taxes and deserve a helping hand. Taxes should be sort of an insurance policy for us to help educate us, give us health care
(especially dental) and help us procure a LIVING WAGE. We the people need an equal playing field. Today, with the government take-over by the RIGHT
our playing field is anything but EQUAL. We, ALL THE PEOPLE deserve and
should expect better. TIMES HAVE GOT TO CHANGE. The people, ALL THE
PEOPLE must wake up and smell the coffee… I know this is a worn-out idea
but it must be repeated over and over, again and again… BEFORE IT IS TOO
LATE!! ThinkingBlue

PS: Below is an article that tells it a lot better than I:

~~~~~~~~~~~

The Real Costs of a Culture of Greed

By Robert Scheer The Los Angeles Times Tuesday 06 September 2005

What the world has witnessed this past week is an image of poverty and social disarray that tears away the affluent mask of the United States.

Instead of the much-celebrated American can-do machine that promises to bring freedom and prosperity to less fortunate people abroad, we have seen a callous official incompetence that puts even Third World rulers to shame. The well-reported litany of mistakes by the Bush administration in failing to prevent and respond to Katrina's destruction grew longer with each hour's grim revelation from the streets of an apocalyptic New Orleans.

Yet the problem is much deeper. For half a century, free-market purists have to great effect denigrated the essential role that modern government performs as some terrible liberal plot. Thus, the symbolism of New Orleans' flooding is tragically apt: Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and Louisiana Gov. Huey Long's ambitious populist reforms in the 1930s eased Louisiana out of feudalism and toward modernity; the Reagan Revolution and the callousness of both Bush
administrations have sent them back toward the abyss.

Now we have a president who wastes tax revenues in Iraq instead of protecting us at home. Levee improvements were deferred in recent years even after congressional approval, reportedly prompting EPA staffers to dub flooded New Orleans "Lake George."

None of this is an oversight, or simple incompetence. It is the result of a campaign by most Republicans and too many Democrats to systematically vilify the role of government in American life. Manipulative politicians have convinced lower- and middle-class whites that their own economic pains were caused by "quasi-socialist" government policies that aid only poor brown and black people - even as corporate profits and CEO salaries soared.

For decades we have seen social services that benefit everyone - education, community policing, public health, environmental protections and infrastructure repair, emergency services - in steady, steep decline in the face of tax cuts and rising military spending. But it is a false savings; it will certainly cost exponentially more to save New Orleans than it would have to protect it in the first place.

And, although the wealthy can soften the blow of this national decline by sending their kids to private school, building walls around their communities and checking into distant hotels in the
face of approaching calamities, others, like the 150,000 people living below the poverty line in the Katrina damage area - one-third of whom are elderly - are left exposed.

Watching on television the stark vulnerability of a permanent underclass of African Americans living in New Orleans ghettos is terrifying. It should be remembered, however, that even when hurricanes are not threatening their lives and sanity, they live in rotting housing complexes, attend embarrassingly ill-equipped public schools and, lacking adequate police protection, are frequently terrorized by unemployed, uneducated young men.

In fact, rather than an anomaly, the public suffering of these desperate Americans is a symbol for a nation that is becoming progressively poorer under the leadership of the party of Big
Business. As Katrina was making its devastating landfall, the U.S. Census Bureau released new figures that show that since 1999, the income of the poorest fifth of Americans has dropped 8.7% in inflation-adjusted dollars. Last year alone, 1.1 million were added to the 36 million already on the poverty rolls.

For those who have trouble with statistics, here's the shorthand: The rich have been getting richer and the poor have been getting, in the ripe populist language of Louisiana's legendary Long, the shaft.

These are people who have long since been abandoned to their fate. Despite the deep religiosity of the Gulf States and the United States in general, it is the gods of greed that seem to rule. Case in point: The crucial New Orleans marshland that absorbs excess water during storms has been greatly denuded by rampant commercial development allowed by a deregulation-crazy culture that favors a quick buck over long-term community benefits.

Given all this, it is no surprise that leaders, from the White House on down, haven't done right by the people of New Orleans and the rest of the region, before and after what insurance
companies insultingly call an "act of God."

Fact is, most of them, and especially our president, just don't care about the people who can't afford to attend political fundraisers or pay for high-priced lobbyists. No, these folks are supposed to be cruising on the rising tide of a booming, unregulated economy that "floats all boats."

They were left floating all right!

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A FEW FACTS ABOUT THE MINIMUM WAGE

The Federal minimum wage is steadily losing buying power. Once it is adjusted for inflation, the $5.15/hour minimum wage was worth only $4.40/hour in June 2004. Increasing the minimum wage to $7.00/hour by the year 2006 is a modest proposal which will help restore the value of the minimum wage.

The minimum wage as a percentage of the average wage has also been declining. In the decades of the 1950's and 1960's, the minimum wage was worth more than 50% of the national average hourly wage. Since 1968, the ratio of the minimum wage to average hourly earnings dropped from 56% to 36% in the 1990's. The current minimum wage of $5.15/hour represents only a third of today's average hourly manufacturing wage.

The annual earnings of a full time minimum wage worker in the 1960's and
1970's equaled or exceeded the poverty line for a family of three.
Starting in the 1980's, the annual earnings of a minimum wage worker began
to shrink as a percentage of the poverty line. Today, annual earnings from the minimum wage ($10,700) are 75% of the poverty line for a family of three and 57% of the poverty line for a family of four.

Contrary to predictions by opponents of the minimum wage increase, an Economic Policy Institute (EPI) study of the effects of the 90-cent increase in the minimum wage legislated in 1996 failed to find job loss associated with the 1996-97 increases. This study, and other studies of previous minimum wage increases, challenges the textbook theory that raising the minimum wage will cause employers to fire minimum wage workers. Commenting on these studies, Robert Solow, an MIT Nobel laureate economist has written, "The main thing about the research is that the evidence of job loss is weak. And the fact that the evidence is weak suggests the impact on jobs is small." (New York Times, 1/14/95)

The proposed increase in the Federal minimum wage will both strengthen consumer demand and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans and their families; and, studies of the effects of recent increases in the minimum wage do not find significant job loss.
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ANOTHER GOOD READ:

The Death of Horatio Alger

Audio - Kanye West "GEORGE BUSH DON'T
LIKE BLACK PEOPLE"

VIEW VIDEO HERE

SEE MY PAGE HERE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

QUOTES:

They took over the country like a coup. Eight or nine guys came and took over the country, they overran the press, the congress, the bureaucracy and we all fell down so easy. Is our democracy that fragile that it can be taken over so quickly by a group of people who are zealots, who are ideologues, Utopians if you will? They didn't go into Iraq because of oil or Israel, they went in because they really believe they could go in with ten-thousand American soldiers, a few bombs, a lot of American flags, Saddam would fall, new government would come in, and democracy would flow like water out of a fountain. Seymour Hersh from a Daily Show interview

The question is not whether the system works, but
whether we like the way it works. Just because something works doesn't
mean it is desirable. Concentration camps work, if your purpose is to
enslave people. Stealing works, if all you care about is money. Lying
works, if you don't give a damn about your personal integrity. Literally
anything, no matter how monstrously immoral will work, depending on your
desires and how you define the term work. Sy Leon

By definition, a government has no conscience.
Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more.Albert Camus

Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for
trivial reasons. Bertrand Russell

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use
it! Thinking Blue

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You lose a lot of time, hating people.

You lose a lot of time, hating people. ~Marian Anderson

I post this quote from Marian Anderson, as a response to an email forward I received from a "myspace" blogger's hate piece. The blogger didn't send it to me personally one of my misguided cyberfriends did. I googled the 'So I Volunteered' piece and found a comment on it in about.com ... The Urbanlegends site: 'So I Volunteered'

My opinion on this post is: "This is one of the worst pieces of revulsion the conservative movement has conjured up to date... Talk about the uncompassionate conservative... Uncompassionate is really too mild a word for such HATE! The author may not have intended it to be spread around but those who share his viewpoint picked it up and it is spreading like wildfire in an attempt to gather a following of those who equally hate and are biased about those "unfortunates" caught up in poverty! It is so sad that there are so many people who are willing to buy into this hateful viewpoint of those who don't share the same ideology, money or skin color ... as themselves"

I will end my post with a few more quotes about HATE:

I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him. ~Booker T. WashingtonHating people is like burning down your own house to get rid of a rat. ~Henry Emerson Fosdick

If malice or envy were tangible and had a shape, it would be the shape of a boomerang. ~Charley Reese

You lose a lot of time, hating people. ~Marian Anderson

It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates. Hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will even be transformed to love, unless the change be impeded by a continually new irritation of the original feeling of hostility. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Take care that no one hates you justly. ~Publilius Syrus

End discrimination. Hate everybody. ~Author Unknown

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain. ~James Baldwin

A Rattlesnake, if Cornered will become so angry it will bite itself. That is exactly what the harboring of hate and resentment against others is - a biting of oneself. We think we are harming others in holding these spites and hates, but the deeper harm is to ourselves. ~E. Stanley Jones

Hate quotes from this site: http://www.quotegarden.com/hate.html

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE BUSH'S ANATHEMA (CURSE) IN IRAQ

WORD OF THE DAY "anathema"

It seems Iraq is heading for CIVIL WAR! This was an inevitable outcome told to Bush and his Neocons even before they decided to go to war with Iraq (and this was well before 9/11)...

Below is a poignant note from Cindy Sheehan. She asks President Bush "What was the noble cause my son died for?" He has yet to answer her, in plain words, question.

Now with Britain not only stopping the pull out of some troops in Iraq but sending in 6000 more Desert Rats in what is being described as "an unexpected redeployment. This, to me, is an acknowledgement that is beyond a doubt, the leaders of Britain and the United States realize CIVIL WAR is not only looming but is already happening.

The Bush and his neocon's anathema in Iraq has begun... and with CIVIL WAR evolving into a reality, there are going to be numerous US and British deaths to follow.

I do not believe that Cindy will ever get an answer to her question from Bush nor will the Mothers of the many who have yet to be lost. Thinking Blue

PS: If the above isn't bad enough now it seems the Bush administration is trying to blame environmentalists for the levee breaks...
Click here or below:
Administration: Blame environmentalists for levee failures

Now for the word of the day

anathema n., pl. anathemas. 1. A formal ecclesiastical ban, curse, or excommunication. 2. A vehement denunciation; a curse: "the sound of a witch's anathemas in some unknown tongue" (Nathaniel Hawthorne).

A denunciation invoking a wish of evil: execration - curse - damnation - imprecation - malediction - oath - evil spell - evil eye - whammy (slang)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wake Up
By Cindy Sheehan
t r u t h o u t Perspective
Monday 19 September 2005

So we have come to cash this check - a check that will give
us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We
have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce
urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off
or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. -- MLK, Jr. Aug. 28, 1963, I Have a Dream speech

What Bush's Katrina shows once again is that my son died for
nothing. If you listen to Bush - and fewer and fewer are, thank goodness
- we are in Iraq in part due to 9/11. All our president has been talking
about has been protecting this country since 9/11. That's why people
voted for him in the last election. Katrina shows it's all a sham, a
fraud, a disaster as large as Katrina itself.

Hundreds of billions and tens of thousands of innocent lives
wasted later, what have we achieved? Nothing. Casey died for nothing and
Bush says others have to die for those that have died already.

Enough, George! What is disgusting is not, as the first lady
says, criticism of you, but rather the crimes you've committed
against this country and our sons and daughters.
Stop hiding behind your twisted idea of God and
stop destroying this country.

This week I arrive in Washington DC to begin my Vigil at the
White House just like I did in Texas. But this time I'll be joined by
Katrina victims as well. In your America we are all victims. The failed
bookends of your Presidency are Iraq and Katrina.

It is time for all of us to stand up and be counted: to show the
media, Congress, and this inept, corrupt, and criminal administration
that we mean business. It is time to get off of our collective behinds
to show the people who are running our country into oblivion that we
will stand for it no longer. That we want our country back and
we want our nation's young people back home, safe and sound, on our
shores to help protect America. That it is time for a change in
our country's "leadership." That we will never go away until our dreams
are reality.

We have so-called leaders in our country who are waiting for the
correct "politically expedient" time to speak up and out against the
occupation of Iraq. It is no sweat for our politicos to wait for the
right time, because not one of them has a child in harm's way. I don't
care if the politician is a Democrat or a Republican, this is not about
politics. Being a strong leader to guide our country out of the quagmire
and mistake of Iraq will require people of courage and determination to
stand up and say: "I don't care if I win the next election, people are dying in Iraq every day and families are being decimated." We, as the 62% of Americans who want
our troops to begin coming home, will follow such a leader down the
difficult but oh-so-rewarding path of peace with justice.

It is no longer time for the tranquilizing drug of
gradualism. It never has been the time for that. Our "now" is
so fiercely urgent. Like my daughter, Carly, wrote in the last verse of
her "A Nation Rocked to Sleep" poem:

Have you ever heard the sound of a Nation Being Rocked to Sleep?

Our leaders want to keep us numb so the pain won't be too deep,

But if we the people allow them to continue, another mother will weep,

Have you heard the sound of a Nation Being Rocked to Sleep?

Wake up: See you in DC on the 24th.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

British Troops to Stay, Fears of Iraq Civil War

Moves to withdraw soldiers from Iraq have been
scrapped due to fears of civil war, a newspaper claimed. The
British Ministry of Defense insisted it had never set a timetable for
removing its 8,500 troops. But it confirmed that more soldiers would
be redeployed to Iraq before the end of the year, suggesting thousands
will remain in the country well into 2006.

"The formal anouncement of that redeployment will be made during the
autumn and they would be scheduled to go out around the end of
November," a MoD spokesman said. Britain, the main ally of the United
States in Iraq, has frequently said its soldiers will stay there "until
the job is done".

However, a Government document leaked to a newspaper in July
suggested London hoped to cut its forces in Iraq to 3,000 by the middle
of next year. The Sunday Telegraph said that plan had now been
scrapped amid "growing concerns that Iraq is heading into
full-scale civil war".

It said 6,000 Desert Rats would go to Iraq in what it
described as "an unexpected redeployment". The MoD described
the figure as speculative and said the redeployment was part of a
rotation of troops and did not mean Britain was increasing its presence
in Iraq.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sliding into civil war

Simon Tisdall
Friday September 16, 2005

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's
declaration of war "against Shias in all of Iraq" has reinforced fears
that the country is sliding towards all-out civil war. This week's
toll included day-laborers in a Shia district of Baghdad and pre-dawn
executions of Shia men in the provincial town of Taji.

The Shia response has so far been relatively restrained. Shia
leaders are fully aware that al-Qaida is trying to draw them into
civil conflict. The main Shia parties, in government for the first
time, hope a constitution to be voted on next month and a general
election in December will confirm an historic shift of power in their
favor.

This prospect of permanent dispossession is anathema (DAMNATION)
to leaders of the Sunni Arab minority, accustomed under Saddam Hussein
to running the show, and may be a factor in the violence. But a
distinction should be drawn between the national concerns of
mainstream Sunni Arabs and al-Qaida's more grandiose, destabilizing
objectives, said Rime Allaf, a Middle East expert at Chatham House.

"It's not just about Sunnis versus Shias. Al-Qaida often makes no
distinction about who is being targeted. Some of these Baghdad
neighborhoods are mixed Sunni, Shia and others. They're all
civilians," Ms Allaf said. "There is already a civil war, but
it's primarily a war for power, not a war for religion. That's what
it's about for al-Qaida. And power is what it's about for the US as
well - power over the region."

Considered from this perspective, the Iraqi conflict lies at the
heart of two historic struggles that were given a modern dimension by
9/11. All-out sectarian warfare in Iraq, if not avoided, could inflame
passions in Shia Iran and among Sunnis and Shias in Saudi Arabia and
the Gulf states, possibly leading to the sort of regime-changing,
region-wide upheavals sought by al-Qaida.

At the same time, the US, wrestling with contradictory impulses to
keep control in Iraq and disengage, may be tempted to lash out.
Heavy-handed action against Syria and Iran could also spark a broader
Middle East conflict.

That is one reason why a compromise on Iraq's constitution that
satisfies moderate Sunnis is vital before the October 15 vote, said
Joost Hiltermann, Middle East director of the International Crisis
Group. "If no compromise is reached ...
the country will slowly dissolve into civil war and disintegrate," he
predicted. "Unfortunately, this scenario now seems likely."

VISIT: http://geocities.com/loyal_resistance/nonono/iraqcivalwar.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FRANCES NEWTON
THE LINK: http://www.freefrances.org/

*** SAD UPDATE ***
FRANCES NEWTON WAS MURDERED

BY THE STATE OF TEXAS

ON SEPTEMBER 14, 2005

READ: Sacrificial Murder by Texas

Dave Lindorff: 'Frances Newton died for Bush's sins'

Date: Friday, September 16 @ 09:55:54

EDTTopic: Laws, the Courts and the Legal System

Sacrificial Murder by Texas By Dave Lindorff, CounterPunch

Frances Newton died Wednesday for Bush's sins.The 40-year-old black woman, executed by the death-obsessed state of Texas last night following a rejection by the US Supreme Court of her attorneys' last-ditch appeal, and after the state's craven and bloodthirsty "pardons and parole" board refused to recommend a stay to Gov. Rick Perry, hardly merited mention in the nation's media, which is now awash in stories about Bush's disaster in New Orleans.

(The story got a 79-word shirt-tail report on page 25 of the New York Times, tucked under a larger story about the House changing rules for hate crimes and child molesters, and next to a story about Hurricane Ophelia.)

Those who are looking for an example of an innocent person's being executed by the state may well find it in the case of this unfortunate woman, who almost certainly was not guilty of killing her husband and child as charged by the state of Texas.

Her guilt was always hard to fathom, with the prosecution claiming that, after killing her alleged victims, Newton somehow left the scene, disposed of the gun, and returned only 30 minutes later with not a trace of blood on her body or clothes, which were all dry-a good trick, as OJ Simpson could attest, given the amount of blood at the scene.

Newton insisted on her innocence of the crime right up to her death, and offered an alternative theory-that her husband and 7-year-old had been killed over a debt to a drug dealer-a theory that her notoriously inept and subsequently suspended attorney Ronald Mock never bothered to investigate.

Newton claimed she had removed a gun from the house after hearing her husband and his brother talking about "some trouble," and she thought it better to get the weapon out of the house.

The trial was rife with improprieties and prosecutorial misconduct-the most egregious of which was that investigators had recovered not one but three identical .25 cal. Pistols during their investigation of the case, while the prosecution pretended there had been only one pistol recovered and hid the other two from the defense.

It was also rife with the standard neglect and incompetence we've come to expect from underpaid, unmotivated and incompetent public defenders provided to poor and black defendants in such cases-Mock never even brought in Newton's husband's parents, who had volunteered to testify on her behalf, and who have steadfastly opposed her execution!

Ironically, when there was more attention being paid to the case back in December 2004, Gov. Perry granted a 120-day stay from execution because of evidentiary questions in the case that raised some doubt about her guilt.

Yet the matter of the multiple guns and the outrageous hiding of important exculpatory evidence from defense-which raised much more serious questions about her guilt and about the fairness of her trial--came up subsequent to that stay.

In other words, doubts about Newton's guilt were much greater the day she was executed than they were last year when Perry granted a stay.

So what was different between December '04 and September '05? The lack of public and media attention to the case. Katrina and the disastrous Bush response to the deadly flooding of New Orleans simply trumped the story of the first execution of a black woman since the Civil War.

Of course, Newton also got less media attention all along because of her race. The execution of an admitted female killer, Karla Faye Tucker, by Texas only seven years ago, was page-one news for weeks leading up to her execution.

What was different?

Certainly not the depravity of the crime, as her bloodthirstiness was stunning. The real difference was her race-Tucker was white--and the fact that Tucker had "found God" while on death row.

So, in a sense one could say Newton is yet another victim of Hurricane Katrina, though given her race and class, it is quite likely she would have died anyway had the hurricane never hit the Gulf Coast.

She is, however, clearly also another notch for chief executioner George Bush. It was while he was governor that her shameful trial unfolded. It was on his watch as governor that her initial efforts to win a new trial were rejected, it was a state pardons and parole board that still bears the marks of Bush's appointments that rejected her plea for her life, and it was in Bush's shadow as the former Governor Death that her latest effort to win a stay or a pardon from Bush's successor, Gov. Perry, that she finally met her fate with a lethal injection.

It is now time for death penalty opponents and the team of appellate defenders who fought for Newton's life to redouble their efforts to prove her innocence, and to once and for all demonstrate the monstrosity of the sick, racist death penalty in not just Texas but the entire United States.

Dave Lindorff is the author of Killing Time: an Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. His new book of CounterPunch columns titled "This Can't be Happening!" is published by Common Courage Press. Information about both books and other work by Lindorff can be found at www.thiscantbehappening.net.

He can be reached at: dlindorff@yahoo.com

Reprinted from CounterPunch:http://counterpunch.org/lindorff09152005.html

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use
it!Thinking Blue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WELFARE AND THE SMUGLICANS

We (the good ole US of A) are a poor example of compassion for the poor... Especially when the Smuglicans take over... Whenever I hear anyone say... people are poor because they are lazy... I FEEL LIKE KILLING SOMETHING... So many people haven't a clue to how it feels to be generational poor... (they talk like Barbara Bush for the most part)

Poverty is a prison... and with a shameful government like ours it remains a prison. Katrina sure opened a lot of sleeping eyes but I feel, IGNORANCE is too comfy and cozy for those who were rudely awakened... and they will be lulled back into their robotic trance as the Limbaughs sing them their lullabies of hate.

I tried to find information on the Welfare Rights Organizations... And holy cow, the first link I came across was a Barbara Bush think-a-like... here is an excerpt from this smuglican site: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=17768

Another professor teaching courses in the International Studies program is Sociology professor Theo Majka. Majka teaches the courses “Racial and Ethnic Minorities,” “Community,” “Immigration and Immigrants,” and “Political Sociology.” In the latter course, Majka relies heavily on the studies of Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, and purports to examine “Marxist class theories.” Cloward and Piven were two Columbia University sociologists who, in the mid 1960s, proposed a plan to bankrupt the welfare system by overloading it with more applicants than the system could handle, which its enactors hoped would result in economic collapse, and eventually transform the U.S. into a socialist system. Organizations such as the National Welfare Rights Organization adapted this strategy, and its adoption caused the welfare crisis that bankrupted New York City in 1975.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AFTER READING THAT BIT OF NONSENSE... HERE ARE THE FACTS ON WELFARE:
The New Welfare Rights Movement
source: Women and Children in the Wake of Welfare 'Reform', Women of Color Resource Center (June 2000)
Welfare Factsfrom Women of Color Resource Center (June 2000)

Most former TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) recipients who find work are working at jobs that pay between $5.50 and $7.00 per hour. Median monthly earnings amount to $1,149, which is below the official poverty line for a family of three. Many former recipients lose income even if their cash earnings rise, because they lose benefits.

Work is scarce
A Government Accounting Office survey of the effects of welfare reform in seven states found that between 19% and 30% of families returned to welfare soon after leaving. In the same seven states, between 29% and 39% of the adults who left welfare had not found employment.

Housing crises are worsening
A national study found that one-fourth of former welfare recipients moved because they couldn't pay their rent. In most states the median monthly fair market cost of housing for a family of three is considerably higher than the entire TANF grant. An Atlanta survey found that one-half of homeless families with children interviewed in shelters had lost TANF benefits in the previous 12 months.

Hunger is increasing
One-third of those who left TANF had to cut the size of or skip meals. In Illinois, 63% of employed former welfare recipients reported that there were times when they could not buy needed food. In 1997, among families who had left welfare, only 42% of those eligible for food stamps were receiving them. Over half a million legal immigrants remain ineligible for food stamps due to the 1996 welfare law.

(Read more about this here: http://www.cbpp.org/WCNSUM.HTM It really is sickening how they saved 55 billion by cutting benefits to the poor (mostly children suffered) and gave upper middle and wealthy familie, tax cuts by the Trillions... March 2001: The Bush Budget:Trillions for the Rich, Misery for the poor... what a country)
Childcare is unavailable
Nearly 75% of employed former recipients in Chicago were working nights, weekends, or rotating shifts--times when it is nearly impossible to find child care. In California, 200,000 families are on waiting lists for subsidized childcare.

Health insurance is rare
Less than one-fourth of those moving from welfare to work are covered by health benefits.

I wished these know-it-alls would read up on the facts of welfare before they spout off... better yet... let them and their whole family, try to live on Welfare for a year AND TO MAKE IT FAIR, IF THEY WANTED TO GET OFF THE ROLLS OF WELFARE, ONLY BE ALLOWED TO GET WORK MAKING $5.50 TO $7.00 AN HOUR ... Let's see how smug they would be then... THINKING BLUE

CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

KATRINA AND RR'S LAST MARBLE

If Pat Robertson and his groupies in the Religious Right Movement (it's not exactly a movement, more a stalemate) ran the world, YIKES, we THINKING HUMANS, would be in a HELLAVA fix. They may not run the entire world but they have far too much control over many people's minds.

A friend of mine, sent me the article below. Good grief, the writer states that the Religious Right has LOST IT'S LAST MARBLE... I find this to be an understatement! They, lost all their marbles a long time ago. They, the RR's, are now claiming GOD made Katrina turn it's horrendous storm path into New Orleans because abortions were performed there and guess what else? Yup, you guessed it, something to do with GAYS.

ABORTIONS? Nature (which I believe they refer to as GOD) performs spontaneous abortions (miscarriages) constantly so I guess their own GOD is also at fault. Talk about laughable or hilarious because of obvious absurdity, or let's talk about homophobia, these people are so afraid of homosexuals they are willing to make their GOD appear to be a freaken IDIOT.

I am sharing this article because I personally heard something ludicrously similar in the small town where I live. It seems a teacher in my community, told her students (in a public school, I might add), that GOD created AIDS in order to punish homosexuals for their life style. (She failed to mention, since the epidemic began, 25 million people have died from AIDS, which has caused more than 13 million children to lose either their mother or both parents. For its analysis, UNICEF uses a term that illustrates the gravity of the situation; child-headed households, or minors orphaned by HIV/AIDS who are raising their siblings) Is their GOD punishing the children and babies? She did add the words "I BELIEVE THIS TO BE TRUE." at least that might make her students feel it is only her opinion but still a very dangerous statement to make to children who probably feel she is all knowing.

Thinking about this tale, made me realize THESE PEOPLE don't think too much of their GOD. This GOD of theirs is the most small minded, intolerant, mean spirited and selfish entity we earthlings could ever encounter and is so enormously unwilling to tolerate any DIFFERENCE in opinions or beliefs that deviate from his own, if he were REAL, that is! Thank HOLY CRAP, no pun intended, he's NOT. I am quite happy HE, only exists in the minds of his equally small minded, Intolerant, mean spirited and selfish flock.

I am not a believer nor nonbeliever (yes, I can jump over both sides of the fence because science has not advanced enough to give us ALL the answers, though, I must add, I prefer the side of sanity.) but I would think an all powerful supreme being would not and could not succumb to the frivolities of the animal species, Homo sapiens. The only acceptable type of Supreme Being (God) would be an energy form without feelings or emotions... Come on you people, it's time to grow up and realize YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN with your smallness of mind and INTOLERANCE, don't try to blame it on a GOD! Thinking Blue

PS: Another story from the community I live in: A science teacher from these parts told her students, just before teaching them EVOLUTION, that she does NOT believe in what she is about to teach. She is bound by law to teach this THEORY (she actually used "theory" to mean NOT PROVEN and calls herself a TEACHER OF SCIENCE). "Remember class this is only a THEORY and therefore does not really exist. Don't believe it as fact for it IS NOT! Keep in mind what your parents and church have taught you about GOD being the creator of you, you came from ADAM AND EVE not from monkeys and that is a FACT!"

I'M OUT OF HERE!

PS: Click Here

Creationists argue that evolution is "only a theory and cannot be proven."

As used in science, a theory is an explanation or model
based on observation, experimentation, and reasoning,
especially one that has been tested and confirmed as a
general principle helping to explain and predict natural
phenomena.

Any scientific theory must be based on a careful and
rational examination of the facts. A clear distinction needs
to be made between facts (things which can be
observed and/or measured) and theories (explanations
which correlate and interpret the facts.

A fact is something that is supported by unmistakable
evidence. For example, the Grand Canyon cuts through layers
of different kinds of rock, such as the Coconino sandstone,
Hermit shale, and Redwall limestone. These rock layers often
contain fossils that are found only in certain layers. Those
are the facts.

It is a fact is that fossil skulls have been found
that are intermediate in appearance between humans
and modern apes. It is a fact that fossils have been
found that are clearly intermediate in appearance
between dinosaurs and birds.

Facts may be interpreted in different ways by different
individuals, but that doesn't change the facts themselves.
Theories may be good, bad, or indifferent. They may be
well established by the factual evidence, or they may lack
credibility. Before a theory is given any credence in the
scientific community, it must be subjected to "peer review."
This means that the proposed theory must be published in a
legitimate scientific journal in order to provide the
opportunity for other scientists to evaluate the relevant
factual information and publish their conclusions.

Creationists refuse to subject their "theories" to peer
reviews, because they know they don't fit the facts. The
creationist mindset is distorted by the concept of "good
science" (creationism) vs. "bad science" (anything not in
agreement with creationism). Creation "scientists" are
biblical fundamentalists who can not accept anything
contrary to their sectarian religious beliefs.

MORE LINKS ON EVOLUTION:

Welcome to the Evolution Wing

The Social Map (The existence of mental concepts that
impose order on our experiences, as revealed by Kant, now
appears obvious to most social scientists (Kant, translated
by Kemp Smith and Caygill [1787], 2003). We cannot negotiate
social life, following its structures, norms and values,
other than by maintaining a lexicon of relevant information.
This, in turn, implies a central role for human memory in
the structuring of social life. Erase one individual’s
memory and they are no longer social beings: if all
individuals’ memories were erased, by means of some
neurological catastrophe, then society would cease to exist
in any meaningful form beyond a collection of residual
artifacts. Thus, the sociological perspective that views
society as existing beyond the individual only holds in a
metaphorical or philosophical sense or, perhaps ironically,
if we are basing our assumptions from the standpoint of a
single individual.)

The following article came from: Morons.org

I wish I could say I was making this up. But I'm not.

The Religious Right has lost its last marble. Anyone
who believes the nonsense that they're dishing out now has
got to be completely and utterly brainless. If you're
reading this and you think that the positions taken by
these fundamentalist wackos make sense, let me be
absolutely clear now: you are stupid. You have no brains.
You have disabled the organ that allows you to reason.

The Columbia Christians for Life have concluded that
Hurricane Katrina was the wrath of God on the city of New
Orleans for having abortion clinics. Now if that sounds
remotely plausible to you, I should point out that they
also claim the radar image of the hurricane resembles a
6-week-old fetus. No, I am not making this up. I wish
I were. Note that the radar image does not resemble a
6-week-old fetus, but rather a hurricane.

The Brainless Right has also asserted that

gays are to blame for the hurricane.

Is this starting to sound familiar? The reasoning goes
that a gay event, "Southern
Decadence" was planned for Wednesday, August 31
through Labor Day. Ergo, the hurricane's arrival a few
days before meant that God was displeased with New Orleans
for allowing homosexuals to exist within its city limits.

Yet I note from the
Google cache of the meetings and conventions (the main
site is down- go figure) for August that the American
Association of Zoo Keepers was planning to meet in New
Orleans on August 29. How do we know that isn't what God
was upset about? Why is it that it hasn't particularly
bothered God that Southern Decadence has been held for the
last 34 years... he's only just getting irate about it
now? Why doesn't he get upset about the countless other
gay events in the country and around the world?

The reason is of course quite simple: "God" had nothing
to do with hurricane Katrina. See most of us in the
species Homo sapiens have progressed far enough to
understand that weather patterns on this planet are caused
by variances in temperature, pressure, relative humidity,
winds and so-on. We no longer rely upon superstition or
religion to explain (or predict) the weather.
Unfortunately, there are those in this species who have
switched their minds off and stubbornly refuse to use
them. It is people who are absolutely and completely
senseless who still believe garbage like "God's wrath"
being the source of severe weather.

Michael Marcavage, moron and director of the radical
fundamentalist death cult known as "Repent America"
actually said "this act of God destroyed a wicked city.
New Orleans was a city that opened its doors wide open to
the public celebration of sin. May it never be the same.
We must not forget that the citizens of New Orleans
tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so
long."

And here I thought it was a hurricane caused by a low
pressure system and strengthened by favorable conditions
over the warm water in the Gulf of Mexico that hit New
Orleans. I guess I was wrong. I guess it was actually a
supernatural entity taking out his vengeance on New
Orleans. Because that just makes way more sense.

The real danger here isn't that Moron Marcavage puked
forth this arrant nonsense, grossly taking advantage of
human suffering, death and destruction for his own
political and religious grandstanding. No, the real danger
is that there do exist people who are patently stupid
enough to hear what he says and believe it to be true
without a second thought. (By definition, "thought" would
have ruled out this drivel completely.)

My only hope is that as the claims, assertions and
aspersions cast by these idiots will continue to grow in
absurdity for every future disaster such that eventually
they'll be so ridiculous that nobody, no matter how
brain-dead, could possibly do anything but laugh at them.

---Nick

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More Homophobia Quotes:

"The day after George Bush was elected president again,
because of this morals revolution taking place in our
country, he allows his vice president to not only put his
lesbian daughter on the platform, but to bring her lesbian
'partner' up on the stage with him. It almost seems to be a
slap in the face from the get-go against the very
conservatives that re-elected the president at a time when
he ought to paying them some homage and respect."
--Joe Glover, president of the Family Policy Network
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Homosexuals are not monogamous. They want to destroy
the institution of marriage. It will destroy marriage. It
will destroy the Earth."
--James Dobson, October 22, 2004 at a political rally in Oklahoma
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"As far as I'm concerned, people who have AIDS are a
danger. They're a danger to spread AIDS. People should be
able to know who has AIDS. It costs an awful lot of money to
treat them."

"They bring it on themselves. They don't get it by sitting
on the toilet seat. . . . A person who gives AIDS, who
spreads AIDS, they're bad people. Everybody wants to be on
the good side of everything. Well, I'm taking a stand."

--Maryland Comptroller William Donald Schaefer (D), October 12, 2004
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Those who practice homosexuality should swiftly be put to
death by the government. God emphatically condemns the
practice of exchanging proper gender characteristics among
men and women. God justly calls for the death-penalty for
anyone who practices homosexuality."
--Citizens for the Ten Commandments
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"In my opinion, gays and lesbians should be put in
some type of mental institute [sic] instead of having a law
like this passed for them." --Letter to the Editor by George County Justice Court Judge
Connie Wilkerson published March 28, 2002 in the GEORGE
COUNTY (Mississippi) TIMES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals;
it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates
homosexuals." --Jerry Falwell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The homosexual blitzkrieg has been better planned
and executed than Hitler's."
--Rep. William Dannemeyer (R-CA), The New Republic, 08-01-94

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A religion that doesn't discriminate wouldn't exist,
because it wouldn't stand for anything."
--Janet Parshall, Family Research Council's "Washington
Watch Radio Commentary," Sept. 1, 2000 - Comments about a
church firing a lesbian worker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The end goal of gay activism is the criminalization of
Christianity." --Robert H. Knight, Director of Cultural Studies at FRC
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"If personal safety means discrimination, then I’m all for it."
--Janet Parshall, FRC Washington Watch Radio Commentary,
Sept. 21, 2000 - Comments regarding the ban on gay &
bisexual men donating blood
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"[M]illions of Americans are waking up to the fact that the
phrase 'Happy Holidays' is less a happy greeting than a
pointed assault on our civil liberties."

"The agenda of the left is to make religion strictly
private and pornography public. And the people behind this
agenda, more often than not, are homosexual activists."
--Robert H. Knight, director of the Concerned Woman of
America's Culture and Family Institute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The perversion that follows homosexuality is bestiality and then
human sacrifice and cannibalism." --Barbara Blewster, a member of the
Church of Latter-Day Saints and the Arizona State Legislature
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I want to coin a phrase here, and I don't mind help. What
would be the communication version of "ethnic cleansing?"
Because that's what in particular the homosexual activists
try to do." --Dr. Laura Schlessinger, August 11, 1999
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To
oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea
to save one of Pharoah's chariottiers." --Jerry Falwell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now I have learned that the radical, perverted homosexuals
and lesbians are already promoting their '2000 Disney Gay
Day' -- with Disney's help! And they are timing it to occur
in June -- right when children out of school will be
flocking to Disney-owned parks! This proves the true intent
of these homosexuals: they are after our children!!"
--Bonnie Mawyer, wife of Christian Action Network founder,
in a March 2000 letter blasting Disney for allowing gay
groups to visit Disney World.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Homosexuality involves sexual acts most men consider not
only immoral, but filthy. The reason public men rarely say
aloud what most say privately is they are fearful of being
branded 'bigots' by an intolerant liberal orthodoxy that
holds, against all evidence and experience, that
homosexuality is a normal, healthy lifestyle."
--Pat Buchanan September 3, 1989
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"One of the things we have got to do as a church is simply
apologize and beg forgiveness of the gay community."
--Father Beattie, Los Angeles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The male homosexual is the most dangerous predator that is
allowed to walk free on the earth." --Sam Woodgeard
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"God Hates Fags!" --Rev. Fred Phelps
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Homosexuality is not a civil right. Its rise almost always
is accompanied, as in the Weimar Republic, with a decay of
society and a collapse of its basic cinder block, the
family." --Pat Buchanan, 1977
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Gay rights activists seek to substitute, for laws rooted in
Judeo-Christian morality, laws rooted in the secular
humanist belief that all consensual sexual acts are morally
equal. That belief is anti-biblical and amoral; to codify it
into law is to codify a lie."
--Pat Buchanan, Wall Street Journal, January 21, 1993
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The poor homosexuals -- they have declared war upon nature,
and now nature is extracting an awful retribution (AIDS)."
--Pat Buchanan, discussing AIDS in 1983.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"With 80,000 dead of AIDS, our promiscuous homosexuals
appear literally hell-bent on Satanism and suicide,"
--Pat Buchanan, October 17, 1990.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The law that requires the death penalty for homosexual acts
effectually drives the perversion of homosexuality back into
the closet." --Gary DeMar, Ruler of the Nations, 1987
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"AIDS is nature's retribution for violating the laws of
nature." --Pat Buchanan in his 1992 presidential campaign
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I am not ready to give this great nation over to one-world
government extremists...radical, disease-carrying
homosexuals...or anti-family lesbian feminists...or
hate-mongering atheists who despise our religious
beliefs...or the ACLU who would deny us our free speech
rights...or anti-American U.N. globalists!"
--A February 2000 mailing from the Christian Action Network
soliciting support to help conservatives keep control of Congress.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We've got to have some common sense about a disease
transmitted by people deliberately engaging in unnatural
acts."
--Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), on why he opposed approval of
the Ryan White CARE act, which funds AIDS research
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Someone must not be afraid to say, 'moral perversion is
wrong.' If we do not act now, homosexuals will 'own'
America!...If you and I do not speak up now, this homosexual
steamroller will literally crush all decent men, women, and
children who get in its way...and our nation will pay a
terrible price!"
--Jerry Falwell quoted in People for the American Way's,
"Hostile Climate," 1997, p.15.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Homosexuality is Satan's diabolical
attack upon the family that will not only have a corrupting
influence upon our next generation, but it will also bring
down the wrath of God upon America." --Jerry Falwell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"[Vice President Gore] recently praised the lesbian
actress who plays 'Ellen' on ABC Television...I believe he
may even put children, young people, and adults in danger by
his public endorsement of deviant homosexual behavior...Our
elected leaders are attempting to glorify and legitimize
perversion." --Jerry Falwell, quoted in People for the American Way,
"Hostile Climate," 1998, p.9

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Someone must not be afraid to say, 'moral perversion is
wrong.' If we do not act now, homosexuals will 'own'
America!...If you and I do not speak up now, this homosexual
steamroller will literally crush all decent men, women, and
children who get in its way...and our nation will pay a
terrible price!" --Jerry Falwell, quoted in People for the American Way,
"Hostile Climate," 1997, p.15

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I do not believe the homosexual
community deserves minority status. One's misbehavior does
not qualify him or her for minority status. Blacks,
Hispanics, women, etc., are God-ordained minorities who do
indeed deserve minority status." --Jerry Falwell, USA Today Chat, quoted from The Religious
Freedom Coalition, The Two faces of Jerry Falwell

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CAROLYNCONNETION - I've got a mind and I'm going to use it!

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